MarkLogic nets $25M to keep up enterprise NoSQL pitch

When MarkLogic Founder Christopher Lindblad started working on a database for unstructured data in 2001, his efforts were prescient. Since then, the database market has since seen a proliferation of non-relational, or NoSQL, startups to handle the wide variety of data types that new data sources such as web applications and digital documents generate. The space has grown so big, in fact, that it has already started to consolidate. Amid all this, MarkLogic has managed to stand out by generating more revenue than pretty much any other vendor, according to figures Wikibon released in February.

On Wednesday, MarkLogic’s success was validated again, as the company announced a $25 million round of venture funding, bringing the total it has raised to $71.2 million. Sequoia Capital and Tenaya Capital led the round; CEO Gary Bloom and other MarkLogic executives also contributed.

MarkLogic like to tout the fact that it’s geared for enterprise use. Features such as high availability, replication, clustering and ACID compliance help differentiate the company from other NoSQL databases, Bloom told me. And although the company is taking in revenue and looks robust enough to go public now, Bloom said he would rather boost revenues to the point that MarkLogic could sustain success after an IPO.

Rather than go after the revenues that open-source NoSQL databases generate, Bloom said he wants to take away database marketshare from legacy companies peddling SQL databases, including IBM, SAP and Bloom’s previous employer, Oracle. That means MarkLogic salespeople will have to convince slower-to-change enterprises on the reality that relational databases might not be the best choice if they want to take advantage of unstructured data. MarkLogic also will have to put up with fellow NoSQL players that are adding enterprise functions, such as MongoDB,

But if MarkLogic’s plan turns out to be fruitful, a public offering could come within a year or two, Bloom said.